The prior art has provided a wide variety of plastic end closures for containers. Two such prior art end closures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,625,306 and 2,826,343. Each of these patents discloses a one-piece plastic end closure which has an annular base and a tab connected to the base for movement between an open and a closed position.
The present invention departs from these and other prior art end closures by providing a one-piece injection molded plastic end closure which, when used on a recessed closed end paper fiber tube in combination with a display rack, cooperates with the recessed closed end of the paper fiber tube to removably secure the container in the display rack during shipping and display at the point of purchase.
More specifically, the end closure includes a generally flat annular ring like base having a top wall and a bottom wall and a central opening through which the contents of the container may be dispensed. An annular skirt portion is connected to the bottom wall of the base and extends longitudinally away from the base for being received within the open end of the tube. An annular rib is connected to the top wall of the base and extends radially outwardly beyond the skirt portion so that the open end of the tube abuts the bottom wall of the rib and so that the outer wall of the rib is aligned with the outer wall of the tube. The annular rib is discontinued and interrupted at two radially opposite locations to divide the rib into two C-shaped portions.
A tab is connected by a reduced thickness hinge to the base at one of the interruptions in the rib. The tab is a disc shaped member and is disposed within the rib when the tab is in the closed position. The tab includes an annular portion seated on the base and a longitudinally recessed center portion extending into the opening of the base when the tab is in the closed position. The top wall of the rib and the top wall of the annular tab portion are disposed in a common plane to provide a smooth surface extending from the outer wall of the rib to the recessed center portion of the tab.
The display rack includes a display board and a plurality of open cavities in the display board. Each cavity has a resilient finger disposed at each of its ends. The resilient finger at one end of the cavity projects to the longitudinally recessed center portion of the closed end of the paper fiber tube, and the resilient finger at the other end of the cavity projects into the recessed center portion of the tab.